8 November 2019, Los Angeles, California, USA
I want to share with you one of the main questions that I always get asked in an interview. And so I'm going to share it with you now. And here he is, my neighbour. Thanks darling.
So some years ago, before we were allowed to be who we were in our little towns, I was sitting on a soundstage and my director said, "Can you hand me your underpants? Because we're seeing them in the scene and you shouldn't have underpants on, but we won't see anything." And I said, "Sure."
I didn't know that this moment would change my life.
What I'd like you all to do is put your feet flat on the floor like mine, all of you, and I want you to join me in a moment that changed my life. Ready, set, go. Do you feel empowered? Maybe not. Let's do it again.
Each and every one of you is going to have a moment like mine, a moment that changes your life when you might be aware of when it's happening and when you might not. But I'll tell you this, you're going to have one if you haven't had it already. And you're going to be held accountable for it, if you haven't already. And people are going to ask you a lot of difficult questions, if they haven't already. So the time to decide who you are is now. The time to decide what you do with the tender, important, beautiful, savage, passionate, most important part of yourself. What are you going to do with it?
I'll tell you what I did with mine. I respected it. And I would suggest that you all do the same because we have every right to be powerful in whatever form of sexuality we choose to have. And no one is allowed to take that away from you. You must present yourself in a way that allows you to be respected, liked, and loved. This thing has gotten way out of control and it was way out of control before it started. And in my opinion, the only way it's going to change is if we get real laws on the books, misdemeanours, and felonies, and we get real social services involved in our lives.
I stand here as Woman of the Year, not as an individual, but to be with women and of women, and to be here in my grace and in my tenderness and in my dignity. And I want to tell you, it was hard won after I only did that. So I want to say thank you for choosing me to be Woman of the Year, because there was a time when all I was was a joke. Thank you very, very much.
Speaker 2: Let's let every wall continue to-
Sharon Stone: Come down.
Speaker 2: ... come down.